CRA-E Panel on Undergraduate Research

2005

Research constitutes an intrinsic part of the intellectual activity of any faculty. Many times, however, heavy teaching loads and lack of incentives (such as institutional support and time releases) negatively affect the faculty's research work. Often, the knowledge level required in the research also limits the involvement of undergraduate students. Nevertheless, computer science faculty find innovative ways to attract the students and to extract benefits.

Proceedings of the 53rd ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

The Early Research Scholars Program (ERSP) was launched in 2014 at UC San Diego as a way to provide the benefits of research experiences to a large and diverse group of students early in their undergraduate computing career. ERSP is a structured program in which second-year undergraduate computing majors participate in a group-based, dual-mentored research apprenticeship over a full academic year. In its first four years ERSP engaged 139 students with a high proportion of women (68%) and racially minoritized students (19%), and participation in ERSP correlated with increased class grades. In 2018 we partnered with three additional universities to launch their own version of ERSP. Implementations at our partner sites have seen similar diversity and initial success, and have taught us how to implement the program in different contexts (e.g. quarters vs. semesters, different credit structures). This paper describes the structure of ERSP and how it can be adapted to different contexts to construct a scalable and inclusive research experience for early-career undergraduates in computing and related fields. CCS CONCEPTS • Social and professional topics → Computing education programs.

2011 Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2011

This paper presents strategies for providing successful Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). The authors have advised several undergraduates on research for the past few years, and have jointly supervised around twenty-five students, over two summers, on a project funded by an NSF-funded REU program in areas relating to the visualization of astrophysical data using high performance file systems. Several of these student projects have led to research publications. The paper briefly motivates the need for research in modern computing and engineering education. It then presents specific details about the development of summer REU programs including how to: secure funding and institutional support; plan a summer program including the design of scalable research projects; develop strategies to advertise and recruit students, especially from underrepresented groups; create a dynamic research and social environment through one-on-one mentoring; develop appropriate assessment and evaluation processes; and track student participants after they graduate from the program.

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings

Virginia State University has conducted a formal undergraduate research mentoring program (URMP) for the STEM areas. This program is supported by a grant from NSF under the HBCU UP program. The goal of the URMP is to enhance the undergraduate research infrastructure at Virginia State University. The program set measurable objectives for the first two years. In addition, the URMP set twelve tasks that were expected to be pursued by research mentors as well as the students under this program. A total of 11 faculty members and 51 students participated in the URMP program during the first year. This is 73% of the target level that is set for two years for faculty participation. This also exceeded the target level for student participation. This article deals with the experience of developing policies, procedures, and instruments for recruitment of faculty and students, establishment of measurable objectives and expectations, assessment, evaluation, and improvement of mentoring program. The article also presents the outcomes of the program and the lesson that was learned during the first year.

2009 39th IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, 2009

Many educators have noted the benefits of providing undergraduate students a research experience including increased retention, greater interest in graduate school, and an enhanced educational experience. Different approaches and guidelines have been proposed to accommodate the constraints of working with undergraduate students such as lack of academic maturity, limited student time, and a less developed knowledge base. In our Computer Science program, we have attempted to integrate various aspects of a general approach to research in courses throughout the major. Students get more in-depth exposure and practice in conducting elements of research as they progress through the major.

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 2007

To address the alarming decrease in students in Rhode Island computer science programs and the under-representation of women and minorities, we have devised a program to introduce students to research in computer graphics, art and new media. This program integrates good mentoring practice and pedagogy, including problem-based learning. Special attention is paid to creating a cohort of students who come together every week to learn about the research process, and ethical and societal issues related to it. Each student takes a small project from the proposal stage, through design and implementation, to publication and presentation. We report on the first two years of the program.

Undergraduate research experience is widely viewed as an essential component of good teaching and effective learning. This paper presents our experience with undergraduate research at the University of West Georgia as it enhanced student learning in the relevant areas of computer science. A number of undergraduate students were involved in various research projects related to natural language processing. Some of the students were enrolled in a newly designed faculty directed research course to earn credit while others were involved in funded research projects without enrolling in any research credit, yet there were others who participated in the research on a voluntary basis. In all cases we observed that their involvement in research enhanced their learning not only in the areas of artificial intelligence but in many other related areas of computer science. We have found that the longer a student is involved in research the better he or she is prepared for graduate school or a prof...

Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1

Despite the expansion and development of the field of computing education (CEd), a lack of formal programs means that researchers often exist as islands across and within a diverse range of departments. Given the broad nature of the discipline, trying to build a community typically occurs through more formal conferences. Another way to expand engagement with the field is through Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), programs that offer students the chance to get involved with research. REUs have been shown to strengthen disciplinary identity and encourage the pursuit of graduate degrees. However, such opportunities are not usually available at the graduate level. To address this gap, we present an experience report that describes our approach, Research Experiences for Graduate Students (REGS). In the work that follows, we detail our implementation and the partnerships created that allowed (n = 10) internationally dispersed graduate students from different institutions the chance to build connections, conduct CEd research, and develop a graduate-centric community. Leadership researchers, faculty, and staff supported the efforts, offering guidance and critical examination of the work to establish rigor over the course of the projects. Publications and presentations contributed to the CEd knowledge base, and interviews with the students upon completion of the experience illustrated the value of participation in the REGS. CCS CONCEPTS • Social and professional topics → Computing education.

Computers & Education, 1995

This paper reports on an experimental program aimed at introducing undergraduates to research in computer science. For two summers groups of college sophomores and juniors participated in an intensive research program on human-computer interaction. Working in small groups under the direction of a project director, they devised and carried out experimental studies in areas such as cognition of programming, interface design, and the training of end users of computers. Later a research component was designed for a regularly scheduled course on human-computer interaction, based on what was learned from the summer research program and modified to fit the format of a normal course. In this paper we describe the undergraduate summer research and its adaptation to a regular course format. We also discuss the lessons learned from this work.